Though it might not quite be in the upper echelon of societal recognition like Star Wars, Jaws, or Back to the Future, there is no doubt that many would consider The Karate Kid to be a cinematic classic. It’s a cheesy, over-the-top film, but it’s earnest and heartfelt story with a bombastic climax resonated with almost all who saw it. Who doesn’t love Mister Miyagi, “sweep the leg”, “wax on wax off”, and the crane kick? It isn’t high art, but it sure is entertaining!
It’s not really a surprise then that, in our modern era of sequels, prequels, reboots, and remakes that someone would eventually have an idea to expand The Karate Kid universe. At the bare minimum, you’ve got a built-in audience of fans and nostalgia-hungry 80s film fanatics who will clamor to see your product. With barely an effort, it’s easily imaginable how someone could churn out a lazy, low-effort cashgrab. None of this is a surprise.
What IS a surprise is that the end result of this idea (a sequel show built upon the premise of exploring the original film’s antagonist and his life after the movie) is absolutely, incomprehensibly, incredible!
On almost all levels of logic, Cobra Kai shouldn’t work. It’s just as cheesy as the original trilogy (if not even more so), and there’s a certain hint of “soap opera” to the proceedings. But, the show is so unflinchingly earnest, sincere, and passionate that you just can’t help falling in love with the characters and their conflicts. The constant karate fights strain credulity, but darn if they aren’t entertaining and awesome! The comedy is top notch, the nostalgia is appreciated without being overdone, the emotional beats are heartwarming and occasionally heartbreaking, and all of the acting is solid across the board.
A brief summary of the overarching plot:
A down-on-his-luck Johnny Lawrence (the bully of Daniel LaRusso from the first film) is struggling to stop living in the past. After his old rivalry with Daniel is reignited by coincidence (or some call it fate), he reopens the Cobra Kai dojo with his new neighbor, the bullied high school student Miguel. Over time, Cobra Kai gains more and more members, frustrating Daniel (who, despite denying it, is also stuck in the past) and driving him to open his own Miyagi-Do dojo with his daughter Sam and Johnny’s estranged son, Robby. Predictably, things spiral out of control from there, and insane karate wars ensue.
On almost every level of television show production, Cobra Kai rises far and above what anyone would have expected from a show of its standing. Everyone involved in this amazing product deserves the highest of praise, from the writers and directors, to the multitude of talented actors and actresses, to the outstanding composers responsible for one of tv’s best soundtracks.
The excellent tone of the show is one area I briefly alluded to earlier, but it is worth elaborating. The dialogue and situations would feel campy or contrived in any other show, but Cobra Kai tackles them with such sincerity and effort that you can just feel the love that the show’s creators and actors pour into every scene. It also manages to balance humor, action, and heart quite efficiently and effortlessly, moving seamlessly from a witty joke to a brutal karate beatdown to a touching reunion, all without breaking a sweat.
In any other show, this sort of manic melodrama (where hardly a problem exists that can’t be solved with some good ol’ karate) would be silly and unwatchable. And while Cobra Kai is certainly quite silly, it’s infinitely watchable. There’s hardly a more bingeable show on Netflix than Cobra Kai. It’s just so much fun, all the time, and without letting up. It might be impossible to get through a session of watching Cobra Kai without a big, goofy grin on your face.
This show also handles it’s cast of characters exceedingly well, and often in surprisingly mature and thoughtful ways. It’d be easy to frame the show as a simplistic, “black-and-white morality” type of karate justice, but Cobra Kai doubles down on well-written and complex characters to ensure that this never happens. There’s hardly a single character who is wholly flawless or wholly malicious. Everyone in this show is flawed in some way, and those flaws lead to relatable character arcs and understandable mistakes. It might be frustrating to watch your favorite character make a bad decision, but as the viewer you understand WHY the character did what they did. Every move they make feels deliberate and purposeful.
Take the central POV character, Johnny. He is frequently a behind-the-times drunk unable to stop pretending like it’s still the 80s, but you still root for him when we starts getting his life together thanks to his companionship whit his students, and you yell at your screen when unexpected setbacks push him down into a drinking binge. There’s the scheming and manipulative sensei Kreese, who manages to be so deliciously hammy with his performance, but his traumatic past as a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran makes his drill sergeant tendencies understandable. There’s also the bitter rivalry between Miyagi-Do practitioner Sam and Cobra Kai aficionado Tory. These two girls are seemingly incapable of ever seeing anything in each other aside from a desire for violence, but they have more common ground than they’d ever care to admit.
This is the type of show where the slightest shift in character dynamics has wild repercussions across the entire cast, but always in a believable manner. Your favorite and least favorite character will almost never be the same person at the beginning and end of each new season, and you’ll find yourself rooting for someone you previously hated, and crying over an emotional story beat involving a character you didn’t even know you cared about. Everyone in this show is just so dang great!
Of course, it helps that so many of these characters are experts at kicking butt. And boy…does this show EVER give them the chance to do so!
In a show based so intrinsically around karate, it isn’t a surprise that there are so many fight scenes. What is more of a surprise is that they are so good (especially for a tv show), and they just continue to get better as the show goes on! A majority of the actors even perform their own stunts wherever possible, lending an air of authenticity to the no-holds-barred, bare-knuckle beatdowns and stylized choreography.
From straight-laced tournament styled one-on-one showdowns, to drunken brawls at the bar, to impromptu karate clashes in the middle of a mall food court, Cobra Kai has it all. Best of all, every single fight scene contributes in some way to plot progression or character development. The show never devolves into senseless violence or unnecessary slapstick just for the sake of it. Every single clash of ideals advances the storytelling to some degree, ensuring the viewer never grows bored and that each conflict carries weight and meaning.
And let me just say, if you’ve never seen this show before, you are in for one rollercoaster of craziness if you ever watch the bombastic school fight that closes out season two!
None of these fight scenes (nor the comedic interludes nor the tear-jerking emotional beats) would ever land so strongly without the impeccable soundtrack. Each season’s soundtrack delivers on so many levels that it’s simply crazy, and the tone of every track absolutely nails the scene it’s played in. I’m an audiophile, so it is admittedly a weakness of mine, but the amount of awesome leitmotifs and character themes in the soundtrack, and the expert way in which they are utilized and remixed, is the stuff of dreams. The licensed 80s tracks are also always fun to listen to.
(For those curious, give a listen to HALLWAY HELLSCAPE, CAROL OF THE COBRAS, and TIME OUT)
The praise able to be heaped upon this confoundingly excellent show is nearly endless. This show is part comedy, and the humor is fast and frequent. Jokes will frequently catch you off guard, so prepare to laugh. The acting, as I touched on earlier, is also superb. Veteran actors William Zabka and Ralph Macchio carry the earlier seasons, and the phenomenal child actors grow into their own to truly develop the emotional core of the series as it progresses (especially Xolo Mariduena, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, and Peyton List).
At the end of the day, Cobra Kai is just, plain and simply, a dang good show. Even with the odds stacked against it, it manages to be heartfelt and consistently entertaining, as well as fist-pumpingly exciting. This is the kind of show that just feels good to watch. The fight scenes, humor, and heart just energize you while you watch, and bring huge smiles to your face time and time again.
If you’ve never seen it before, you owe it to yourself to check out Cobra Kai. The whole show is available on Netflix, and seasons one to three are out on DVD. Check it out!
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 